MHz

Regarding a computer processor, MHz is short for megahertz and is one million Hertz. An oscillator circuit supplies a small amount of electricity to a crystal each second that's measured in kHz, MHz, or GHz. "Hz" is an abbreviation of Hertz, and "k" represents Kilo (thousand), "M" represents Mega (million), and "G" represents Giga (thousand million).

The first computer processors or CPUs (central processing units) operated in kHz. For example, the first processor, the Intel 4004, operated at 740 kHz. Later processors operated in MHz; for example, the Intel Pentium processor was available at speeds of 60 MHz to 300 MHz. Today's processors operate in GHz. When measuring the speed of a processor, the higher the speed (bigger the number), the faster it can run.

What comes after MHz?

When measuring the frequency (speed) of a CPU (central processing unit), GHz (gigahertz) comes after MHz.

What comes before MHz?

When measuring the frequency (speed) of a CPU (central processing unit), kHz (kilohertz) comes before MHz.

Clock cycle, Computer abbreviations, CPU terms, Gigahertz, Hertz, Kilohertz, Measurement